Spanish Police Arrest 5th Bombing Suspect

MADRID, Spain – Spanish police arrested a fifth suspect Thursday in the Madrid terror bombings, bringing the total number of suspects in custody to 11, court officials said.

The national news agency Efe said the person was of North African origin.

Earlier, police arrested four people believed to be of Moroccan origin in connection with the March 11 railway bombings, and news reports said police believe may have played a direct role in the attacks.

Interior Minister Angel Acebes confirmed that “the investigation is advancing” but would not comment on the latest arrests. “This is a time for caution,” he said at a news conference to announce that the government is releasing intelligence reports about the attacks.

The investigation moved forward Thursday with the first scheduled court appearance of Jamal Zougam, two other Moroccans and two Indians, all of whom were arrested Saturday, two days after the bombings. An Algerian also is in custody while police investigate suspicions that he may have had warning of Spain’s worst terrorist attack.

Zougam, 30, a Moroccan phone seller in Madrid, has emerged as the key suspect.

In Morocco, police were rounding up his associates and contacts, said the official close to the investigation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Zougam and the four others who arrived in court Thursday were initially held under anti-terrorism statutes, which allow up to five days of police interrogation before a court appearance and access to lawyers. Judge Juan del Olmo was to determine whether they should be held for further investigation – which would suggest there is strong evidence against them – or be released.

Spanish law enforcement agencies were aware of Zougam’s alleged links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network since at least 2001, when they searched his Madrid apartment. They found videos, including one that contained a bin Laden interview, and phone numbers for suspected al-Qaida members.

Alcala de Henares, the town 18 miles east of Madrid where three of the new suspects were arrested, is also where police found a van with detonators and a cassette tape with verses from the Quran just hours after the bombings.

A witness there said he saw three men with their faces covered and carrying backpacks toward the town’s train station before the attack.

Authorities said as recently as Tuesday that 201 died in the bombings. But the Madrid regional government said Thursday that only 194 bodies have been identified and that the definitive toll would not be known before next week.

Also Thursday, another judge was to quiz Imad Yarkas, the alleged leader of al-Qaida’s cell in Spain who already was in jail on suspicion he helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

Zougam and Yarkas have known each other since at least 2001, according to a probe of al-Qaida operations in Spain by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon. Garzon’s dossier shows that Zougam telephoned Yarkas in a call monitored on Sept. 5, 2001, to tell him he had returned to Madrid following a trip to Morocco.

Zougam also is suspected of having links to Said Chedadi, another alleged al-Qaida operative arrested with Yarkas on Garzon’s orders in 2001. Chedadi’s phone number was among those found in the 2001 search of Zougam’s home.

Chedadi remains in jail. On Wednesday night, police started searching his shop and house in Madrid on Judge Del Olmo’s orders.

The government’s decision to release intelligence reports on the immediate aftermath of the bombings was aimed at answering charges that it lied by initially insisting that Basque separatists were responsible.

“We have suffered a campaign of defamation, insinuations and even lies, the sole aim of which was to discredit the government and make it look like a liar and a manipulator,” said government spokesman Eduardo Zaplana.

The reports were gathered last Thursday through Sunday by Spain’s National Intelligence Center.

Public anger over the government’s handling of the bombings contributed to its shock loss in general elections three days later. Critics accused the government of provoking the bombings and making Spain a target for al-Qaida by backing the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

“We can lose the elections but under no circumstances will we tolerate being called liars,” Zaplana said.

Moroccan authorities say they suspect Ansar al-Islam, an Islamic extremist guerrilla group blamed for terrorist strikes in Iraq, Jordan, Turkey and Morocco, of being behind the Madrid bombings.

Moroccan officials said evidence shows Zougam had links to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi – a key operative with strong ties to Ansar.

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Associated Press writer Nicolas Marmie contributed to this report from Rabat, Morocco.